I have become intrigued recently by the work of sculptor George Segal. Segal used orthopedic bandages dipped in plaster to construct some of the most haunting and memorable figurative art of the twentieth century. He created life-sized models based on his body and those of friends, family, and neighbors. The models are seated at lunch counters, poised on street corners, or waiting in train stations. These figures inhabit everyday spaces, however, because they are sculptures, they are also three dimensional. Looking at them is like looking at a moment frozen in time. Looking at them you wonder what they were thinking about in that very moment that they were captured. His sculptures give us the opportunity to step outside our fast-paced world in order to take a different look at how we function within our world. What does the presence of these individuals mean to us? If we were to walk around and see them from differing perspectives, would the meaning we ascribe to them change.
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